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How Do I Do a Science Lab Virtually?
Listen Doing a lab with a room full of kids can be unnerving in the best of conditions, whether they are 6, 12, or 16. You have balance explicit directions, chemicals, and scalpels with immaturity, ADHD, and power struggles (and that may just be your PLC). How in the world...
Spend "180 Days" with Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle: A Book Review
Listen Ever attend a professional development training and think to yourself, “Yeah, I’d like to see you try that with my students!” Or maybe you find yourself disregarding the advice of your administrators, writing them off with, “But how long has it been since you’ve been in a real classroom?”...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 3, Hispanic/Latinx Literature
Listen Students of Latin heritage cannot be placed into a box, though they are often stereotyped. While there are 20 countries in Central and South America, many teachers just assume that Hispanic students are of Mexican descent. Trouble with the English language is often quite incorrectly associated with an...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 2, African American Literature
Listen Many teachers and administrators are grappling with how to address the social concerns that the recent events in our country have brought up. The truth is that the protests and riots have only brought to the forefront issues that our students carry with them into our classrooms every day. ...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 1, LGBTQ+
Listen It is not appropriate as educators to tell students what to believe, but it is our duty to foster an environment that welcomes every individual and provides a safe space where they can learn. Schools are to be a microcosm of society at large in which students can practice...
Adapted Physical Education
Listen For many, the Life Skills hallway on a school campus is a place of joy. Administrators can be found high-fiving and dancing with the students as a reprieve from their burdensome load. General education students often enjoy volunteering and assisting. Visitors can be greeted by peels of laughter and...
Preventing PTSD Among Educators
Listen As the stories of teachers pour in from around the country of their return to their classrooms to clean them out, end the year, and get ready for summer, one thing is resoundingly clear: teachers have suffered some deep emotional trauma this year. Although trauma is widely accepted as...
Battling Anxiety
Listen Anxiety in and of itself is common, but when that anxiety starts to interfere with your daily life, cause you to avoid certain activities, and keep you from doing the things that are important to you, it’s time to seek help. Among the symptoms or signs of anxiety are...
Depression and Teaching
Listen Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses people face. It can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience or a lifelong struggle. For teachers, this time in our history is particularly ripe for depression because of the instability of our jobs, the necessity of social distancing (which makes connecting to...
Panic Attacks 101
Listen We, teachers, have always been a fairly over-stressed, anxiety-ridden bunch. We’ve got a lot at stake, after all. Our jobs are more than jobs. We’re caring for and educating our own future leaders and fellow adults. With the pandemic, social isolation, insecurities about when and how we will return...
The Next Pandemic - Mental Illness
Listen The pandemic of COVID-19 leaves behind more than physical health changes for the general population in its wake. Many doctors, psychiatrists, and health advisers (including the CDC and WHO) are telling the medical community and the public to brace themselves for the next big pandemic - mental illness. Many...
Building an International Community of Educators
Listen While teachers are usually great about sharing lesson plans, borrowing decorating ideas, and team planning, many schools attempt to recreate systems in-house rather than seeing what other districts have done in the region, throughout the country or even across the world. With the world at our fingertips and education...